Steve Jobs in heaven (on the cover of The New Yorker)

Posted by Jason Diamond In case you haven’t seen it, Steve Jobs teaches Saint Peter how to use an iPad at the gates of heaven on the cover of this week’s New Yorker.  Hopefully St. Pete can read anything off the Apple tablet with the glare of God beaming down on the screen, but what really confuses me is that Steve Jobs was a Buddhist.  Shouldn’t he be depicted as something like a reincarnated bunny rabbit holding an iPod shuffle […]

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Revenge of the Scientologists

Posted by Jason Diamond A couple of folks from the Church of Scientology stood outside the Conde Nast building yesterday, handing out copies of the magazine Freedom with a defaced Eustace Tilley on the cover.  The issue’s aim seemed to be about going on the offensive against the Lawrence Wright penned piece on Crash director, Paul Haggis, leaving the church.   Animal New York has the entire issue up on their site.

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Nerd Porn: When Jazz Age Chicago had a New Yorker

Posted by Jason Diamond If it wasn’t for New York, Chicago would never be the Second City; or to be more precise: if it wasn’t for famed New Yorker writer A. J. Liebling, Chicago might not have ever been known as the Second City. The Chicagoan was a magazine that lived and died before Liebling’s famous nickname caught on.  It was a counterpart to the New York institution, which got the anthology treatment a few years ago from the University […]

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Living in a Post-20 Under 40 World

The New Yorker put out it’s first issue since it’s 20 Under 40 Summer Fiction edition came out.  That meant we all had two weeks to read the entire issue, reflect upon the choices, and blog a lot about it. Is the entire literary landscape forever altered?  Probably not, but at least it gave us all some fodder until something else comes along. Ward Six gave us ten writers over 80 that we should go back and read. Steve Almond […]

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I Don’t Like Mondays/Smurfs/Long Pieces by Malcolm Gladwell

It’s Monday, it’s raining, and they’re filming the (live action?) Smurfs movie right outside my office window. Thankfully, The New Yorker put up some of their content online prior to my hands touching the print version.  This week, Ben Greenman talks about Mike Patton, Witz gets reviewed, and oh look, Malcolm Gladwell writes what might not be a five (internet) page review of a book that I’m probably never going to read. Somebody please confirm that this is indeed a […]

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Weekend Bites: New Jersey Rock, Dr. Seuss on the Couch, Twain’s Political Legacy, Portnoy Turns Forty, and More

In the New York Times: Ted Leo, Titus Andronicus, and New Jersey rock Speaking of T.A., Pitchfork basically echo my statement made a few weeks back, about the bands newest album, The Monitor, being one of the best albums of the year. Levi Asher plays analyst on Dr. Seuss. The enduring political wisdom of Mark Twain. Portnoy’s Complaint is 40. “Can you turn a J.D. Salinger into a Mark Cuban?”  Huh? Indie rock and classical composers: the list. L Magazine […]

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